ARCANA
by NoctisStella20
Summary: A notorious criminal called "The Tarot Man" had set foot in the tranquil presence of the world. The individuals that were trapped in the web of fear and drama will try their best to survive from the assaults that claimed their lives. A police-medical drama that was set in numerous realistic situations. WARNING: Character Death may ensue.
1. The Beginning

**The Beginning**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters from existing fictional work. Any similar plotlines is purely coincidental or inspired from it.

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_He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it._

_- Martin Luther King, Jr._

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**December 26****th****, 2012 **

It begins one night, a resolution that would make the world shatter upon his decision. As he stand on top of a skyscraper, overlooking at the blinking lights of the metropolitan in the horizon, the man is actually looking at the final moments of humanity. His decision was made long ago, years to be in fact, but the point is, he already made up his mind.

He is going to commit a crime.

Now, what he was talking about here is no mere crime. As the matter of a fact, the man who made the resolve just now was no ordinary criminal. This man was a man whose name is going to be remembered in the future, imprinted on historical document and will be feared by humanity in nationwide. He was a criminal, who will quake the souls of every criminal in fear and awe.

Normally, a detective might deduce his motive as one of these cases: a motive to seek attention to the world, vengeance upon being indiscriminate and shunned or perhaps another case involving the love one. Should one of the cases be true, then the detective can only be right about one case: revenge.

It's not unusual for a criminal to commit vengeance in order to justify his or her own action against his or her assailants. This man, however, though he set his vengeance to the world he wants merely want to test the flickers of hopes against his crimes.

The world is going to tremble.

The authorities will be frantic in desperation.

There would be chaos all over.

And all will set in a wonderful harmony of the balance between black and white.

The resolution made by this man is going to set this world ablaze with terror and confusion – he used them as a test subject, to see whether or not these fools deserved to rightfully joined in his orchestra of madness or not. Never the less, this is also his revenge. He would make sure that the world is going to suffer. Then he can call a judgment on whether or not he would continue to abuse them or to let them out of his mercy. One way or another, whatever he would do next, is going to set his name straight into the historical records of the world events.

That night, the infamous notorious criminal of the twenty-first century, The Tarot Man… was born.


	2. The Case of the Rogue Toon: Part 1

**The Case of the Rogue Toon: Part 1**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters from existing fictional work. Any similar plotlines are purely coincidental or inspired from it.

**January 15****th****, 2013, 1.45 pm, Sunshine Apartment, Los Angeles, California**

"Are you kidding me, this is MY office?"

Barbara Gordon gave a small exasperated sigh at the bewildered tone from the young man before her. The displeasing look was clearly embroidered on his face even as the movers were busy collecting and placing the necessary items into his new office. The space they occupied was fit for one occupant inside an old yet still steady apartment. Even so, this arrangement wasn't sufficient enough to wipe his unpleasant frown.

"Look, you can complain about your office as much as you want, but this is the place where you'll be staying." Barbara explained.

"…great." He despondently answered just as the mover placed the last furniture inside his new living space: a table.

Barbara placed her hand on his shoulder. Whether it was to ease his tension or just one of her way of begging, no one had will ever know to this day. "Vaan, they really need you here."

Vaan pretended to wipe his face with his hands in exasperation, "Come on, what gives? I don't belong here! Why me?"

"Everyone is busy with the other departments! The Toon Division needs more than one logical mind to handle their cases, and you're the only one experienced enough to handle the cartoon stars at Toon Town!"

"Just because I was raised near Toon Town for five years, doesn't mean I'm not used to them!" Vaan retorted, "I mean, what's your dad been smoking lately? He knows I hate cartoons!"

"For your information, Vaan: one, I'm a Toon too." Barbara replied in annoyance.

"But you're the serious, superhero type. You're still tolerable." He answered back.

Barbara ignored him, "…and two, you're one of the best detectives in our department that could handle Toons for real! Those guys at the Toon Division really need your help there – they can't just juggle their cases and handling the crazy stuff their Toon co-workers had pulled off at the same time!"

"But I can't handle their antics as well!" Vaan scowled defensively.

"Look, they already made the decision, so you're going to stay here at the Toon Division part whether you like it or not!" She sternly noted to Vaan in a direct manner.

"…no second opinion?"

Barbara shook her head, "No. Sorry Vaan," As soon as she finished speaking to Vaan, she glanced at her hand to check the time on her watch, "Oh, look that the time! I should be really going now!"

She quickly gathered her stuff and made her way to the door. "Barbara? I'm gonna place a sue on your department there if I ever find myself flattened by a piano." Vaan warned her just as she turn the handle on the door.

"Don't worry! You'll be doing just fine!" Barbara answered from the other side of the entrance but took a few second to playfully poke her head out of the door, "Oh, and congratulations on your transfer! Visit us sometime!" She finally closed the door, leaving Vaan alone in the midst of his new messy room.

"_Visit us sometime…_" Vaan mimicked snidely, "Yeah, right. When I bring Phoenix Wright with me."

Vaan stared incredulously at the space before him. He knew that he was going to get a small office, but he never imagined that it would be this cramped! Seeing that he had no choice, he began to arrange his new office. First, he needed to place his old files and books onto the empty bookrack. He picked up the large box marked with the words "_Books and Files 1_" on it and moved it to where the bookrack was located. As he was placing the books, his mind lingered at the thought of his transfer.

A few days ago, he had been a normal private detective working alongside the Gotham City Police Department. There was no explaining why he entered the department that handles large cases of crime one another; he already made that decision for a long time. To start off, his decision had to remain in dark for a moment – Vaan started off as a trainee at twenty-one years old then rose into the detective rank three years later and was placed in the Criminal Investigation section. He had been a keen and decent one, especially handling the cases that required forensics. Even so, he's not as smart or brilliant like that infamous detective, L, or even Batman himself. He was just logical in an average way. Life at the Gotham remained dreary yet simple: occasionally, he might assist Batman with clues, but he held no special relationships with anyone except to his one and only family member left. That is, until the Los Angeles Police Department requested someone from their department to be transferred. Guess whom they picked for the job.

The division that he was transferred to was called the "Toon Division", namely because the division was made to handle the crimes that were related to cartoon characters. The division was still quite new and needed established solid staff members to deal with the erratic, unpredictable Toons. Fair enough considering Vaan's experience with them – thinking about Toons makes him feel nausea. At that time, one of his older seniors, Detective Harvey Bullock (and one of the people in the B-Grade jerkass level if Vaan may add), recalled that Vaan had been living next to Toon Town with his eldest brother for at least five years and had familiar with quirks in his daily lives. He should know – anytime someone bring up the topic about Toons to the department, Vaan would let out a flurry of snide comments and his "torturous" experience with them to his comrades. Bullock was annoyed to hell by Vaan's rant, and it had become somewhat their rule not to ever utter the words 'Toons' or 'Cartoons' into their conversation with Vaan around.

Of course, he was protesting at the superior's decision at first, but Comissioner Gordon's final decision had prevented him from arguing further. In the end, he was handled with paper works of his transfer and had taken at least two days for him to move out his stuff and personal belongings to Los Angeles. He even wondered why he was stuck in the mess. Or rather, why is Toon Town eager to follow him just to annoy the hell out of him? Lady luck must have struck him with karma to provide her with personal amusement to his misery.

Toon Town – Vaan was never fond of it. The air, the physics and the colorful hues that the town emitted, he actually can't stand it. The worse of the kind are the ones who are just plain bizarre. Sure he was raised here to have seen Toons on the streets everyday, but he still can't get used to their crazy, "out-of-the-world antics" – not to mention their lack of common sense. Why do they even bother transferring him to that department? Technically something's going on around here. Vaan deduced that someone wants him out of the apartment for outstanding whoever the agent was in the field of work. He wanted to at least think that Detective Bullock is responsible for his transfer – that no-good smirk is a dead giveaway – but it would be petty for him to place the fault on Bullock, despite his rather sloppy attitude.

On the other hand, he really didn't feel this kind of job suited him at all. Vaan was seriously thinking of quitting the department for a while now. One of the reasons was the lack of decent work he had been put up lately, his analytical skills wasn't as good as it was before. Mainly, it's because of something else, but his mind argued back and forth for his whole reason to enter this job. Being a detective means he can find and safely apprehend someone he knows that he hoped the law system wouldn't be too harsh to punish him. Then again, is that reason so selfish that he would sacrifice his own moral conscience in his job? He had seen quite a few cases where the people that his fellow co-workers had been close with had their hands cuffed and dragged into the jailhouse. He pitied the disturbed emotion at their unbelievable eyes as how and why their friends or family were reduced into criminals. Afterwards, they couldn't concentrate as much as they were in the work and may even caused a bumbling accident that resulted in a fatal mistake. To tell the truth, Vaan feared one day he could become like them.

Concentrating too much in his transfer had made Vaan stumbled his foot upon a cardboard box filled with his DVD collection of _CSI: Miami_ series. He landed unceremoniously to the floor and knocked off another boxes filled with paperwork that needs to be brought tomorrow. Vaan scowled behind his purple hair as the papers rained down on him. Screw this, he can't put up with it anymore.

"Dammit!" Vaan went up and kicked the box that caused him to fall, "This whole thing is ridiculous!"

Vanellope von Schweetz liked to stroll around the real life neighborhood during her off-days. The air in the real world was far fresher than the minty, sugary air back at Sugar Rush. She had her excitement and thrill, as a racer, but even then Vanellope could need a break from it at times. Racing is not exactly a relaxing sport to many.

Los Angeles is a city of excitement, scandal and fame, so it's not too surprising that passersby would often excitedly wave at her or following her movement with their eyes. She's gotta give a credit for Ralph this once – his one and only movie had really brought the fame onto them. It doesn't mean she can't be mischievous once in a while though. At times, she, like the other Toons, would unceremoniously picked someone to play a prank on. It's one of their quirks though – usually one of their amusement lies on their mischief to cause trouble that would escalate into a bigger level, but Vanellope knew plenty of other Toons who weren't as much troublesome as the other Toons was and far more serious and direct than the ones created for comedy entertainment. Didn't stop Vanellope from doing it though.

The exterior buildings of the Hollywood glamour had slowly disappeared in the view. Having memorized the way back to her "home", Vanellope continued her stroll amongst an unfamiliar location. The place resembled the locations for an action movie where the protagonist would raid the house of a drug dealer or a fugitive. The whole area was quite dirty with patches of ripped posters of old propagandas or past events, yet it's still quite hospitable to many. She had never been to this part before, having heard of the entire hullabaloo about the high rate of crimes around the area. Vanellope isn't going down by a mugger, danggonnit. She already faced Turbo once, so how hard can a mugger be?

Her attention was caught by the appearance of Barbara Gordon at the entrance of a remodeled old apartment. She was talking to one of the five movers in a pleasant fashion. Having thanked them, Barbara's phone suddenly rang and there was a signature move of Barbara rushing into a nearby alley and changed into Batgirl. Sure enough, Vanellope could see Barbara flawlessly performed Olympic-level stunts to get across the main city. She shrugged off, she already was used to seeing superheroes like her everyday. But if she had a chance, she wished she could meet up with The Avengers though – it's too bad that they're still caught up in the post-Avengers hype by their fans.

Vanellope was suddenly become very interested: it's not often for Batgirl to move into this neighborhood even though her mentor, Batman, had often come to Warner Bros. Studio in lightning speed using his Batplane. A little peek in her new apartment wouldn't be bad, would it? Vanellope's small feet rushed into the entrance of the building where she could see the manager talking to a hopeful future tenant in the office. With the manager busy, Vanellope couldn't find out if Barbara Gordon really did moved here or not. Luckily for her, she overheard someone talking about a young man from Gotham moving to Room 313. True enough, someone was moving in today but to her disappointment, it wasn't Barbara. Still, it was worth investigating though.

A while later, Vanellope raced the stairs to the third floor and found herself in a dingy hallway. The wall had just been recently painted but the whole building was still old. If Vanellope could remember from the entrance, it says that the building was build since 1936. Vanellope searched for room 313 amongst the red-colored mahogany doors, having found it in a few minutes yet she had a last minute consciousness on whether to bother this new tenant or not, especially when he's from Gotham. From what one of her friends at Warner Bros. had told her, nearly all people in Gotham are dead serious from all the crimes that had been going on in their city.

Then, Vanellope's ears picked up a sound of someone kicking an object from the other side of the door of Room 313, "Dammit! This whole thing is ridiculous!"

An amusing smirk formed on Vanellope's face, "Heh, looks like someone needs their mouth washed!" Interested, Vanellope sneakily tried to turn the doorknob open – it was unlocked. She sneaked inside to find a room cluttered with many boxes and a young man in his early twenties pushing a box out of the way to clear his path a little. His most distinguished feature is his purple hair sticking in a spiky, messy fashion. Vanellope was reminded to those attractive anime male characters back in Japan.

Taking an opportunity to introduce herself in her most "grandiose" way, Vanellope tip-toed quietly behind the young man and greeted him as loud as she can.

"Hello, sir!" The young man nearly jumped to the ceiling and ran to the opposite side of the room searching for his weapon only to remember that he hadn't unpacked it yet. His eyes widened in displeasure at the sight of Vanellope inside his own living space and tried to register the fact that she just barged inside his personal space without any consent at all.

"Do you mind? I nearly got a heart attack here!" The young man barked at her.

"Well, that was rude, mister!" Vanellope chuckled, "You're almost as grouchy as Ralph when we first met!" Vanellope sassily returned his barking.

"W-W-What the- how did you come in?!" He darted his eyes at every way imaginable, "I thought I keep my move a secret!"

"From the door, duh!" Vanellope pointed out her thumb in an obvious way, "What else can I get in here?"

He was is still trying to compose himself from the appearance of the little intruder inside his new home and already he didn't take her presence well. Already for not even an hour and a Toon had already come to bother him. Her first impression wasn't even better; she had already rubbed him on the wrong way the moment she greeted him.

Giving a long sigh, he cautiously removed himself from the side, avoiding the boxes from the floor, "Let me guess: you're… a Toon."

"Toon? No, no, you got it wrong! I'm a video game character!" Vanellope cheerfully corrected, "We're quite different from Toons! Okay, so technically, I was created to be in the movie and still part of the Toons, but I'm still a video game character!"

"Well, I am so _sorry_ about that," The young man announced sarcastically while pulling himself together to pick a cardboard box containing his computer set to set it on his table, "My Toon knowledge is getting rusty."

Vanellope gave a roar of a playful laugh before composing herself, "You're funny, mister!" "You ougtha join a sitcom comedy!"

His eyebrows burrowed lower at the statement. He hated sitcom comedies as much as he hated comedy cartoons. Rolling his eyes at his first "guest", tried his best ignore her by adjusting the computer set together. He was hoping that by ignoring the little Toon girl, she would leave him alone to arrange his apartment. Of course, there was a possibility of a worst-case scenario where she would break something just to get his attention right back at her – he know how it works; after all, he did remembered how his temper just exploded when Roger Rabbit accidentally broke his Game Boy Advance when he was thirteen during the scuffle to tell the news about his retirement party. It wasn't enough with the "help" from Ed, Edd and Eddy to replace the game boy he had, their bumbling new scam stand had almost got him into trouble with neighborhood kids and Eddy placed a blame on him. A punch and a broken tooth on Eddy is all that he left for him as a "thanks".

To quote the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons: _**Worst. Week. Ever**_.

"So, what'cha doing?" Vanellope examined her surrounding and answered in a bright tone, "Oooooh… I get it! You're the new chump here, are you?"

He didn't even bother to face the girl, "You can tell by the boxes."

"Hmmm…" Vanellope thoughtfully selected a random item inside one of the boxes. A police badge clutched onto her small hand and opened it to reveal his ID card. "Your name is Vaan Moonwa, huh? It says here right by your ID."

"Yes, that's my name-" Vaan swiftly tried to grabbed his ID back from Vanellope's hands in realization, "Give it back! Give it back, you-!"

"Ah, AH! Say the magic word!" Vanellope wiggled her finger, an irritating smile plastered on her face, moving the ID away from him.

Vaan grinded his teeth very hard, followed by a low growl, "Damn, you…!"

"Not quite what I expected, but… NAH!" Vanellope jumped out of Vaan's hands and make her way underneath his small dining table, "Come and get me!"

"Ugh! Seriously!" Vaan made a reach for the ID again yet again but every time he tried to get it, Vanellope quickly pulled his item away. She decided t aggravate him further by climbing on top of his cupboard fit to accommodate her height from the ceiling and watched as Vaan's hands tried to get a single grip at his ID. He almost got his ID when Vanellope slid out of his reach and ran to the bathroom. He was starting to lose his patience at handling this girl. Note to self, this is one of the irritations he find in most Toons: they play "catch and tag" with his most important items. Normally this would happen to villains who had their moneybags, jewelry or whatever the important item was for the key plot in order to advance further to the plot but this sort of stuff could happen to normal people like him. Having experiences with the Warner siblings, Vaan got the idea and waited until Vanellope came out of the door. He had to be quick, or else this little monster is going to make his place even messier than before.

He hid himself behind his chair, as Vanellope emerges out of the door, chuckling to herself. Taking advantage to her distraction, Vaan speedily snatch his ID back, pocketed it to his breat pocket and wiped the sweat off his forehead, "Wonderful. Not even an hour since I first arrived and I found myself harassed by a sugary Japanese super-deformed character."

"Hey, I'm not sugary!" Vanellope protested, "I'm… ADORABLE!" Vanellope strikes a perfectly cute and innocent pose while batting her eyelashes.

Vaan give a dirty shot at Vanellope, "Riiiiight." He rests himself for a while at the chair without any thought and just sat there for a while. A silence enveloped the room with no one making a move, like the noon showdowns in cowboy movies.

"You don't seem to be enthusiastic about Toons, mister." Vanellope broke off the silence, "What makes you dislike them?"

"You think? Hate to tell this you, but Toons made my life a misery," A dark yet somewhat sorrowful somber gaze stared onto the floor, "They don't understand how human emotions work and they don't have any common sense to distinguished our physics from theirs. On the other hand, if you want your answer to be straight, I absolutely despise comedy! Especially made by Toons!"

"Hate comedies? No wonder you're sour! Comedies are the best relief in the whole life!" Vanellope declared.

"Not for me, kid. Now get outta here." Vaan ordered Vanellope to the door.

"…nope." She stubbornly claimed.

"_**Out**_." He replied in a stern, commanding voice.

Sensing that he wouldn't cooperate with her, Vanellope gives in before he run of his last remaining impatience to handle her. "Okayyyyy. But I'll be back to bother you again!" Vanellope skipped to the door and waved her hand to him after she went out, "So long, _pal_!"

Not even taking another chance to say goodbye, Vaan slammed the door shut on her face, sliding down to the floor after he did so. Vaan pleaded helplessly to the ceiling, "_Please keep my sanity intact, Lord_."

**Warner Bros. Studio, 5.24 PM**

Animation is a huge entertainment department. They existed as far through 1920's until they came to the era where it was widely accepted and loved by the public. Why else would there be numerous animation studios competing in their ground of popularity? But Hollywood is still Hollywood, and it would be fair for the studios to experienced their own dilemmas. Currently one of the entertainment companies had a problem on their own: the Warner Bros. Studio.

For a long time, Warner Bros. Studio had been standing proud in their achievements. Their source of income was rivaled in terms of production to their main competitor, Disney. They were famous of their critically acclaimed shows and movies, not excluding their stale choices in bad movies of the past as well. It is also the famous home to the Warner siblings, for whom their rampant mess had drive many to the brink of insanity yet cleverly plotted enough to entertain many. As of now, the main CEO of Warner Bros. Studio is Thaddeus Plotz, commonly known to many as simply "Mr. Plotz". This evening though, Mr. Plotz was supposed to make distributing merchandise plans for Scooby Doo playsets than to have a Toon in his office. Mr. Plotz stared awkwardly at the paper on his desk. In front of him, an anthromorphic Toon fox in casual garb wore a grimaced expression as he waited for the CEO of Warner Bros studio to give him the answer. Even though Plotz seemed to bear a calm expression in front, there were traces of unbelief annoyance as he read through the paper before him.

"Son, _what is this_?" Mr. Plotz asked as calmly as he can.

"Resignation letter, Mr. Plotz." The Toon answered bluntly.

Mr. Plotz slammed his table both on the palms of his hands, "Well… you can't! You can't quit!"

"…why?"

"Come on, kid! What's the matter with you? Don't you realized that you're the newest star sensational of the twenty-first century since _The Looney Tunes Show_?!" Mr, Plotz scolded at the Toon, "Do you know how popular _Woodland Mates_, kiddo?!" Plotz argued, "You're a millionaire and a star! The public loves your act, and your show for that matter! Your show is making more money than _Harry Potter _franchise ever did!"

"Which is why, I quit sir," The Toon retorted back icily, "I don't feel I can't do this anymore. I feel… burdened."

Plotz jumped out of his seat to try comfort his main star, "Look, look, - Adrian. You're stressed. It's very obvious: look at you! You got bags under your eyes!" He pointed out at his eyes, "Your work is loading you down! You can ask for a short hiatus but it's too early for you to quit! What about your co-stars? They need you here! You're the main character!"

Adrian glowered at the small CEO, crossing his arms together, "Sir, you're trying to flatter me so that I can stay here to do more of your dirty works."

"Dirty, DIRTY?!" Mr. Plotz shot back, "What's so dirty to entertain the world, kid?!"

"You have no idea." He murmured under his breath.

There was a grave pause before Mr. plotz casually dismissed it, "Ah, well, guess what, kiddo? You're still not going to quit: it says so in your contract! You'll be working for a lifetime until your popularity diminished! That's how it done!"

"And how long will that be until I'm reduced to nothing?" Adrian asked again with a venomous tone.

"I'd say it's probably around… sixty, seventy years or maybe even ETERNITY depending how the ratings goes," Mr. Plotz explained while he turned his back away from Adrian and faced himself towards the sunset, "Either way, you're not going anywhere! You have a severe case depression and you're gonna be cured for it! I'm sending you to make an appointment with Dr. Scratchansniff tomorrow to get this done with!"

Deep inside, Adrian was furious. He wasn't depressed – he was misunderstood. But that's how humans are going to see the Toons, isn't it? An entertainment tool that was durable for years to come. There was something inside him that was boiling like water being repressed for a long time. For this one and a half year, he had been submerged inside the jumbling world of entertainment that he was the only one himself who noticed the changes around him. Had he just become smarter? It's not possible unless the creator had placed intellect inside his character. Another thing that he was aware of that he behaved very out of character from his designated design. He felt odd about his apperance, he started to get a grip on common sense and his goal wasn't single-minded anymore.

But this little man here won't listen. It was understandable since he was talking to a CEO of a major entertainment company. Still, he just wants people to understand the changes he had been gone through. He was the former shell of his cartoon self – there was something not two-dimensional about his character. And now this CEO thinks that his problem could be solved away by visiting a _psychiatrist_? _**Does he think that he's insane**_?

But he felt he was getting a dose of insanity, because as Mr. Plotz continued on with his rant, Adrian advanced slowly at him like a predator.

"Oh, and do try to smile a little more often! I haven't seen you smile lately! You're a Toon! You supposed to goofy and obnoxious-"

Plotz's words were cut off when a pair of furry hands caught him by the cuff of his suit. He was about to yell at the Toon when his eyes made a contact with Adrian's, and – is it his imagination, or did Adrian's eyes seemed to glow red?

"_I have enough_." Adrian murmured darkly.

Plotz weakly whimpered, "…wha?"

A crash on the window is all that Plotz could register next. Before he could think of anything, he was finding himself plummeting out of his office from the fifth floor and landed straight onto the hood of his car. It was painful; Plotz could almost felt anything as his body lay paralyzed and helpless with glass shards and blood around him. The amount of it was incredible. He could hear the panic shouts and shrieks from the people who are already rushing to the scene. His secretary attempts to contact the paramedics while the available authorities slowly ran to register what had just happened. Slowly, as his mind incoherently tried to think of this situation, he saw were the hate-filled eyes staring at him from shattered fifth storey window of his office. The last thing that he saw was the disappearing figure of Adrian from the window.

And everything becomes pitch black.

**AN:** Vaan Moonwa is an original character of mine that I incorporated into the story. There would be quite many original characters appearing in the story but the limelight will be balanced between them and any existing characters.

The world that they lived inside is similar to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", with a blend-in of fictional superheroes and vigilantes doing real work in the city. However, realistic depiction of police investigation will remain intact.

Comments and criticism is fairly welcomed!


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